Chapter 16: The Demon King Came to Show Off Her Child

Phyllis wore a sweet, harmless smile, but her gaze roamed over Funuola like a greedy wolf, as if she had already begun planning how to stage a witch's prank.

Funuola felt a chill run down her spine, but she didn't want to lose face. She stubbornly said, "Wasn't it you who dumped this one on me in the first place? I've been raising her for so long now. You have to at least tell me what you're going to do with her, right? If you play her to death, I'd be pretty heartbroken, you know!"

"Don't worry~ Not only will she not die, but she'll actually help your little one regain her spirits~"

"Really..." Funuola looked somewhat skeptical, but she couldn't help yawning. Finally, she waved her hand. "Haah~ Whatever. Take her and get out. I'm going back to sleep. Don't come bother me again."

She was truly too sleepy.

As a vampire, being nocturnal was normal. Phyllis definitely knew that, so she must have intentionally come to disturb her rest.

But Funuola simply had no way to deal with her. If it were nighttime, it would be fine, but in broad daylight, she didn't have the energy to argue with Phyllis.

So Funuola patted the pink-haired girl beside her on the shoulder and pushed her out of the coffin. "Go with her. Come back when you're done."

"Yes... Master..."

The pink-haired girl's eyes were vacant. She responded dully, then climbed up from the velvet carpet and came to stand beside Phyllis.

Phyllis reached out and touched the girl's cheek. Seeing that she allowed herself to be handled like a puppet, Phyllis clicked her tongue. "Funuola~ I wonder if the one who ends up breaking this little one will be you yourself?"

"Hmph! At least with me, she won't die so easily. Even if she dies, I can turn her into a blood thrall. She can't be broken! In your hands, Phyllis, she'd probably be dead in two or three days!"

"Hehe~ That's not necessarily true~ You have a rather rigid impression of me. Look at my daughter, Yue Yue. How cute and healthy she is~"

Geez...

So her cheap mom brought her here to show off her child...

Ever since entering, Xing Yue had been lowering her presence, silently playing the invisible person. Now the corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily.

But despite her grumbling, the moment Phyllis called her name, Xing Yue suddenly felt a shiver run through her. A chill of being targeted by something arose abruptly.

She instinctively looked up and caught a glance from the black-haired girl in the coffin. That gaze only swept over her lightly, sizing her up casually, yet it made Xing Yue feel as if every inch of her body had been seen through.

Funuola withdrew her gaze, pursed her lips, and muttered, "Tch... She's just as flat as you, like an ironing board. Where's the health in that?"

"Mm-hmm~"

Before Xing Yue could react, Phyllis's smile turned dangerous first. "Funuola, I'll give you one chance to rephrase that. Come on, tell me, what did you just say?"

Funuola yawned and stretched lazily. She seemed casual, but she was actually quite generously showing off her own "firepower."

Finally, she couldn't resist adding one more jab: "It's okay, Phyllis. Small ones are cute too..."

She's totally dancing on someone's minefield!

Xing Yue cautiously glanced at Phyllis, whose smile was growing increasingly radiant. She felt like someone was about to be in trouble.

The next moment, Phyllis's voice came: "Yue Yue~ Do you remember the manners I taught you before we came here?"

So it's me who's going to be in trouble?!

Xing Yue's eyes widened. She swallowed hard. Of course, she knew what Phyllis meant by "manners." It was clearly the counterattack she had prepared in advance.

She didn't dare disobey Phyllis. She could only hope in her heart that Phyllis's motherly love wasn't so cheap that she'd discard her as a pawn after using her.

"I remember, Mom."

Xing Yue took a simple deep breath, stepped forward, and gave Funuola a slight bow. Then she squeezed out a stiff but deliberately obedient smile. "Hello, Aunt Funuola. This is our first meeting. My name is Xing Yue. You can call me Yue Yue..."

Sure enough, Funuola, who had just finished stretching and was getting sleepy again, twitched at the corner of her mouth when she heard Xing Yue's address. She sat up, interrupting her self-introduction. "Wait. What did you just call me?"

"Aunt Funuola..."

"..."

Xing Yue watched Funuola's expression shift and change. She peeked at Phyllis and saw a satisfied, approving smile on her face. So she hardened her heart and continued, feigning innocence.

"Is... is something wrong, Aunt Funuola? Mom said you're the most senior, oldest, great--est--pre--de--ces--sor in the Demon King Castle, so she told me to be sure to greet you properly."

Xing Yue watched as Funuola's smooth forehead suddenly creased after hearing her words. A few veins bulged, and almost instantly, a gnashing expression appeared on her face.

She made her decision on the spot, turned around, and hid behind Phyllis's throne, seeking shelter. Only half her face peeked out, and her voice trembled with cowardice. "Mom... Aunt Funuola's expression is so fierce... so scary..."

Phyllis was not one to shy away from a spectacle. Instead of defusing the situation, she gleefully fanned the flames. "Oh my~ Don't be scared, don't be scared, my adorable Yue Yue~"

"You need to understand that some old-timers just can't help putting on a fierce face to scare little children~"

The mother-daughter duo sang in perfect harmony, as if they had rehearsed it. They kept jumping back and forth on Funuola's minefield.

Funuola's eyes instantly turned into vertical slits, glowing with a blood-red radiance. The next moment, Xing Yue felt an immense force hit her from nowhere. The world spun, and when she opened her eyes again, she was on the terrace outside the spire.

Of course, she wasn't alone. Phyllis and the pink-haired girl were also on the terrace.

It was obvious that Funuola had kicked all three of them out of the spire.

"Get out!"

"Don't come looking for me during the day anymore! Annoying!"

With Funuola's angry shout, the spire door slammed shut with a loud bang.

"Hehe~ Alright, Yue Yue, let's go~"

Phyllis seemed to be in a very good mood again. She hummed an unknown tune as her dark throne carried her back the way it came.

The pink-haired girl who had come out of the spire said nothing. She just followed silently behind the dark throne.

Xing Yue could clearly feel that the girl was alive like her, but her movements and expressions seemed utterly devoid of life.

That pink-haired girl seems to have been kept by the old Demon King all along... I wonder what she went through to end up like this...

Xing Yue still didn't know the girl's previous identity or even her name. But she felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Come to think of it, the Holy Maiden who had been left in the dungeon earlier had also given Xing Yue a faint sense of familiarity. But at that time, the Holy Maiden's miserable state had mostly made Xing Yue feel sympathy, so she hadn't paid much attention to anything else.

Now that she thought about it, did that familiarity mean they had known each other before?

She had fallen behind. Xing Yue didn't dwell on it further. She temporarily buried the question in her heart and quickly caught up with them.